


Tears

by bovaria



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:16:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5813779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bovaria/pseuds/bovaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Times Draco Malfoy Made Hermione Granger Cry</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tears

Hermione Granger always stood her ground when it came to dealing with Draco Malfoy. She knew better than to give in to his taunting and cutting words. She was aware that what he said to her really stemmed from somewhere she didn’t quite understand.

That’s why she found herself confused the first time that Draco Malfoy made her cry.

The Second War had just ended. The funerals had concluded and it was time for the trials against the criminals of war. Harry agreed to put in a good word to keep Malfoy out of Azkaban. Hermione stood next to him as Malfoy was brought in. Hermione’s chest tightened at the sight of him, her heart wrenching painfully and her breath catching in her throat. His eyes were sunken, his skin tight and ghostly pale. The rags he wore were loose on him and she could only imagine he was skin and bones beneath them. They shared a moment in which he lifted his head and his grey eyes met her own brown ones. She gasped, tightly grasping Harry’s forearm in hopes that it will keep her from collapsing.

She would always remember his eyes from when they attended Hogwarts. They were bursting with fire and emotion, even if most of his scathing looks were filled with hatred and disdain. Yet during his trial, they held nothing. Absolutely nothing. Draco Malfoy was void of emotions, of heart, of humanity. And it hurt Hermione more than she could fathom.

That night, Ron held her crying frame in his arms as she sobbed. The nightmares were incessant, always the same one haunting her, like a broken recorder showing her the same scene. Those blank, grey eyes would pierce right through her and fill with pain and despair, as she stood there and did nothing. Ron had no idea of the storm raging inside her and she dare not tell him. She shook it off as flashbacks of the war and he accepted her excuse.

The second time Draco Malfoy made Hermione Granger cry, his own tears were soaking her shoulder as her fingers threaded through his white-blond hair.

Hermione saw no purpose in staying home that Friday night. She knew that Harry would be at the Burrow, having dinner with his in-laws as it was accustomed during the weekends. Hermione was aware that she was invited, she always would be, but that last thing she wanted was to see Ron and be forced to exchange awkward pleasantries with him. Instead, she picked up her rarely-used Muggle phone and called her friends. They were more than happy to meet with her, have a few drinks, and reminisce on times long gone. She dressed her best, part of her hoping she’d meet a nice man that night.

The nightclub was brimming with people. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as couples grinded against each other on the dance floor, but trudged through the crowd with the bar as her destination. Ordering a few drinks, she was close to making it back when a tipsy man bumped hard into her. He mumbled apologies and as a response, she screamed out his name. He looked baffled at seeing her and could only stutter out her name. “H-Hermione?”

She saw the same empty look she had seen so many years ago at his trial, and found herself inviting him back to her table for a few drinks with her friends. “I’m guessing you don’t mind Muggles so much these days,” she smirked when he looked perplexed at her invitation. A second later and he scoffed, telling her to lead the way.

They stayed talking long after her friends left, all with waggling eyebrows and insinuations at Hermione finally getting some after months of nothing. She glared at them before turning back to him, flushing pink when she saw his dark, lustful expression. And then she blinked and it was gone.

Draco Malfoy made Hermione Granger laugh that night. He made her stomach hurt from all the laughter at hearing his embarrassing stories of trying to accommodate himself in living amid Muggles. She always questioned why he even had to get used to such a thing when he clearly belonged in the Wizarding world, but hastily bit her tongue. It was universal knowledge why Draco Malfoy isolated himself from the world he had grown up in. And so she chased away her inquiry and pulled her head back and laughed loudly. Part of her was glad to see a tiny flicker of happiness and satisfaction pass through his eyes before it was gone and the smile didn’t quite reach his grey eyes anymore.

She knew better than to question what compelled her to invite him back to her flat for tea, but she grasped his elbow to halt him from walking away and smiled almost bashfully. He conceded immediately, urging her to guide his steps. They didn’t apparate, instead choosing to walk side by side, shoulders bumping and hands grazing shyly.

He politely commented on her simple décor and jumped in fright at the sight of Crookshanks hopping onto his lap. She chuckled and urged her cat to leave poor Malfoy alone. Crookshanks promptly ignored her and made himself at home on Draco Malfoy’s lap, much to the man’s chagrin. Hermione rolled her eyes at the scene that greeted her when she emerged from the kitchen with the tea tray, highly amuse by the sight of Malfoy avoiding any contact with Crookshanks while the feline tried to get even close to him. Hermione quickly picked her pet up and shooed him back to her bedroom.

She sat beside him, handing Malfoy a steaming cup of tea and tried to ignore the feel of his long, pale fingers brushing against her own. Instead, she focused on trying not to drop the tea on herself and control her unrequited emotions.

They only took two sips before he was lunging at her, mouth insistent against hers and hands roaming every inch of Hermione he could reach. There was a part of her that opposed going along with this, of kissing him back with the same fervent abandon he was bestowing upon her, but it was a very tiny part compared to the eager side of her that had been wanting this all night. And so Hermione Granger threw caution, morals, and years of resentment to the wind and let Draco Malfoy ravish her right on her very couch.

They eventually moved things to her bed, kicking a very disgruntled Crookshanks out, and making a mess of her usually-perfect bed sheets. Limbs tangled, they collapsed together and whispered each other’s name in the middle of the night. Hermione fell asleep with her face comfortably nuzzled against Draco’s firm chest.

She woke up to loud sobs that wracked her very core. Her bare shoulder was wet and after realizing that she wasn’t the one crying, the haziness ebbed away and left cold comprehension behind. Draco Malfoy was crying, curled in on himself, into her skin. His cries rang out alarmingly loud as he begged to be spared, to be forgiven, to be showed mercy. Hermione tried to assure him it was all fine, that it was just a dream and those days were long over, but her words fell on deaf ears. He shook his head, his long and lithe frame trembling and Hermione was reminded of a small, vulnerable child as he managed to fit into her embrace. The exact heartbreaking emotions she had felt during his trial returned twofold and Hermione’s tears fell, wetting Draco’s blond hair.

Only when he felt her own tears, he began to hear her assurances, her sweet words of encouragement and faith. “How could you say those things to me?” “I mean every one of them.” “That’s not possible. I am no one, nothing. I am but a Death Eater, Granger.” “The only thing you are right now, Draco, is wrong. You have been forgiven for all that you did, now it’s time to forgive yourself.” “Hermione…”

She hushed him up, pressing her lips against his own and distracted him with her questing hands. Draco laid back as Hermione traced his alabaster skin with kisses and shivered as her mouth traced the scare left behind on his left forearm from those dark days that still haunted him. She looked into his eyes and tried to convey what she felt, and for the first time in years, Draco’s eyes witnessed hope, forgiveness, and redemption.

The third time Draco Malfoy made Hermione Granger cry wasn’t something she expected.

He sat her down gently, hands on her shoulders before they descended to hold her own, squeezing tightly as their fingers intertwined. She gave him a bemused look, tilting her head. Draco grinned and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“You are the only one who saw light in me when even I saw only darkness, Hermione Granger,” he proclaimed, tears already brimming over and his knee folding before her.

“Draco…” her voice faltered as she took him in and realized what he was about to do.

He told her of how she had rescued him from the abyss, how she had seen the good in him and strived so save him, even if she got hurt in the process. He praised her in every sense of the word, relishing in the teary-eyed smiles she gave him as he continued to relay to her just how much she meant to him.

“You are my soulmate,” he declared.

He asked her if she would like to spend the rest of her life with him, to which she could only nod as the cries overwhelmed her. Tears streamed down her cheeks and Draco found himself pressing kisses against a wet face that was just as eager to bestow her love upon him.

The ring he had purchased easily slid up her finger and he sighed in relief, to which she hastily pulled him close and pressed her mouth against his, making him forget about everything around them.

The fourth time Draco Malfoy made Hermione Granger cry, he was at a loss at what to do.

She screamed at him, face red and veins protruding from her neck. Draco wrung his hands and gnawed on his bottom lip as Hermione screeched bloody murder, threatening to hex him off the face of the planet. He tried to appease her, apologize to her, tell her it’d be alright in the end. But the pain surging through her made Hermione see red and her threats became harsher.

A healer stepped forward, consoled Draco briefly before informing Hermione they’d be administering a potion for the pain she was experiencing. Draco stood motionless next to her bed and watched with wonder as the strongest woman he had ever come to know birthed their firstborn child.

Hermione Granger had never looked so beautiful as she did that day. With tears of pain and anger running down her face, Draco marveled at her breathtaking splendor and praised her when it was all over.

She glanced up at him, her eyes finally void of ire and he was elated as he could only see happiness in them. Their baby was placed on her chest and they cooed over Scorpius Malfoy finally making his grand debut into the world.

Hermione cried as she held her son for the first time, but it was no longer Draco’s doing.


End file.
